Boehner Angers Conservatives By Backing Gay GOP Candidate

House Speaker John Boehner faces the wrath of leading conservatives in Congress by heading out to California this week for a fundraiser to support openly gay Republican candidate Carl DeMaio.

Boehner is aiming to hang on to his job by endorsing DeMaio rather than help to elect the first gay GOP politician on Capitol Hill, even though leading social conservative groups and powerful Republicans have urged him not to, according to The Daily Beast.

The National Organization for Marriage has called on Republicans to steer clear of GOP candidates who favor same-sex marriage, like DeMaio.

Jim Garlow, of the Skyline Church in San Diego and a member of the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom, even urged his congregation of 2,000 over the weekend to vote against DeMaio, while saying that he's backing Democratic Rep. Scott Peters for the state's 52nd congressional district.

DeMaio is one of two openly gay GOP nominees — the other is Massachusetts' Richard Tisei — who are in tight midterm election races, and Boehner's "motivation for the trip" to California is simply based on the fact that "he wants to keep his job," reports the Beast.

Although the GOP currently has a 17-seat majority in the House, Boehner faced a rebellion last year when nine conservative members of the House Republican Caucus voted against him for speaker, along with Democrats.

After the midterms, Boehner faces an even tougher time in the election for speaker with growing demands likely among conservatives for his ouster, says the Beast's Ben Jacobs.

"The result is that Boehner needs to pick up seats to ensure a functioning majority," wrote Jacobs. "After all, Republicans elected in swing districts are far less likely to be willing to risk a government shutdown than those who have safe seats."

Although DeMaio's race is unlikely to be a deciding factor, especially as the GOP expects to pick up more seats next month, Boehner is hoping to create "a rebellion-proof" majority as the GOP gears up for what is expected to be a good year for Democrats in 2016, the Beast reports.

Jacobs adds, "As unhappy as social conservatives may be with Boehner, he's still more appealing the prospect of Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi in two years."